DEP official: Bruin wasn't trying to eat Vernon hiker

Daily Record ^ | August 13, 2003 | Rob Jennings

[ZULU]

"A 400-pound black bear that pounced on a Vernon hiker was not trying to eat her, New Jersey's top environmental official said Tuesday in refuting a description by his spokesman about Sunday's apparent attack in Wawayanda State Park."

Vass you dere Charlie????

This political hack is telegraphing the Democratic McGreevey Administration's intent to kill the proposed bear hunt - once again caving in to the Bambites in New Jersey.

[Rebelbase]

Seems like we are reading more news stories than usual about black bear attacks.

[Tired of Taxes]

PING

[Wallace T.]

It would be interesting to see statistics that would prove my guess that attacks on humans, pet animals, and livestock by predators like bears, coyotes, and wolves will be higher in urban areas like southern California, suburban Denver, northern New Jersey, and northern Virginia that have large numbers of tree huggers and heavy restrictions on guns and hunting than in areas where people are free to use firearms to control varmints.

[cpdiii]

In Texas we saw the movie Bambi when we were kids.

WE GO OVER IT
I love the smell of venison sausage in the morning.

[joesnuffy]

All predators enjoying "protected" status become emboldened towards
their prey....
When people fight back and spill predator blood....
They become more docile shy and retireing
If there is one thing that all predators respect and fear...
Its armed prey...whether armed with teeth -claws- bad smell- venom -electricity
or just good ole American firepower
Predators soon learn who to mess with and who not to..its really that simple

[MarkL]

There's an old saying that for safetys sake, you need to wear bells and carry pepper spray when hiking in bear country. The bells are to alert the bears to your presence, so you don't suprise them, and the pepper spray is for protection, in case the bear doesn't run away.

The big question is how do you know if you're in bear country? Well, you look for dropping with bells in it, that smells like pepper spray!

Mark

[Rebelbase]

Your premise makes sense from the angle that the animals lose their fear of man when man cannot threaten them.

I spent a few days last week at a racoon infested campground armed with a super soaker full of ammonia. One wiff was all they needed to turn tail and stay away.

[2oakes]

It's highly atypical behavior for a bear to behave in this predatory way..."

I guess the 7-11 was closed...

Haven't the bears heard that wild animals are supposed to be cute and cuddly?

[boris]

"a super soaker full of ammonia"

Full-quill NH3? Anhydrous ammonia?

I'd high-tail it into the next state.

Just kidding, but you meant "weak ammonia solution" in water.

Like the "hydrogen peroxide" you buy in the drug store...it is 3% H2O2 and 97% water.

--Boris

[Alberta's Child]

Some things that should be pointed out regarding stories like this from places like northern New Jersey:

1. Black bears are herbivores, not carnivores, by nature. As a result, they generally avoid people and will rarely, if ever, "prey" on human beings or on any other animals for that matter.

2. Grizzly bears are generally carnivores, are much larger than black bears, and are more likely to attack humans than black bears are. Outside of zoos, there isn't a grizzly bear living within a thousand miles of New Jersey.

3. Having said that, there is an interesting difference in the temperaments of black bears and grizzly bears. Grizzly bear attacks on humans are almost always related to encounters in the wilderness involving a mother bear who is protecting her cubs, or involving an unfortunate human being who happens to find himself between an adult bear and a food source. Black bears, on the other hand, have been known on rare occasion to attack humans in the woods for no apparent reason at all. The incident described here is not likely to involve this type of attack, since these rare attacks involve black bears that "go nuts" for some reason and do not back down from their target like this.

[Rebelbase]

Yeah, it was the store bought version of ammonia....it was still strong enough to do the trick.

[d-back]

Bradley Campbell, the head of DEP, is a Left Wing Party Hack for the ruling Democrats. He hates hunters and has been trying to erode the time-honored authority of the Fish and Game Council to determine the scope of hunting in New Jersey. He even wants to stack the Council with anti-hunting animal rights nuts.

No surprise that Campbell is now trying to cast doubt on this woman's first-hand testimony. Look for Fish and Game Council member Jack Schrier, the sole anti-hunting animal rights nut, to make statements in a similar vein.

NJ Hunters, if you're not a member of NRA, ANJRPC, NJ State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, or all of the above, you have no one to blame but yourself when hunting is ultimately banned here.

[ZULU]

Black bears are not herbivores. Black bears, like grizzly bears, are omnivores, although protein may form a larger proportion of a grizzly's diet than of a black bears.
Black bears eat vegetation, garbage, carrion, and, when they can get it, fresh meat. They are opportunistic feeders. Only polar bears are obligaate carnivores.

Grizzly bear attacks are more likely in areas heavily populated by grizzly bears, but, based on my reading, grizzlies rarely if ever eat people they kill. Most grizzly attacks are from sows protecting their cubs, bears startled by hikers, or male grizzlies mistaking heavily clothed large male humans for other male grizzlies in their territory.

Black bear attacks, based on numerous articles I have read, as well as science specials on educational programming on television, are of two types: females protecting their cubs - in which case the best defense is to play dead, and male black bears looking for food, particularly before hibernating, in which case active defense is your best chance for survival.

I don't believe bears "go nuts". I think there is a reason for everything they do - we just may not be able to read those reasons, and its always more difficult to predict individualized behavior in an intelligent animal. Compare snails with people for example. Snails always behaive like snails.

[Alberta's Child]

I stand corrected on the omnivore/herbivore point. I wasn't aware that black bears were similar to raccoons in that respect.

I deliberately put the term "go nuts" in quotes because it isn't exactly accurate -- as you said, many of these attacks have simply not been explained. I was always under the impression that an "unexplained" bear attack is more likely to involve a black bear than a grizzly bear for some reason. A Canadian female cross-country skier was killed in one such attack a couple of years ago while training in the summertime in Quebec, and as far as I know nobody has ever figured out exactly what that attack was all about.

[Jack Black]

A prarie dog or rat is a varmint. A 400 pound black bear is a big game animal. What's really sad it that both the state and feds deny citizens the right to arm themselves when in bear country. The Feds are particularly bad about this with the all-encompassing ban on firearms in National Parks. Not a big deal if you live in NJ I guess, but it's about 1/8 of the state of Wyoming.

[Mat_Helm]

Did the bear look like this......and smell like a six pack of Labatt Blue......?

[ken5050]

From the description of the bruisings..sounds to me like the bear was looking for a little "honey"

[fish hawk]

Joe Friday: "just the facts mam, the bear facts".

[Coleus]

Thanks...

Just shoot the damn bears; things were fine when we had 50 of them in the state.